Death, Snow, and Mistletoe

by Valerie S. Malmont

Book Overview

Murder in the holiday spirit It was Christmas in Lickin Creek, and all through the town something was stirring..The borough council was quarreling about the color of the Christmas lights. A social... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440236010
• ISBN13: 9780440236016
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Dell
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Good Christmas Cozy.

Having grown up in Pa., I was really looking forward to this book. But there were too many strange names & too much of "you don't belong here". The story was decent. I really felt for her when her cat went missing & I really enjoyed Praxythea ( how the hell is that pronounced?!)- the psychic. I would probably read another in the series, but I'm not actively searching them out.

Fun Holiday Mystery

Tori Miracle is enticed into moving from the busy streets of Manhattan, to the quiet town of Lickin Creek, Pennsylvania, by her boyfriend, who just happens to be the Sheriff of Lickin Creek, Garnet Gochenauer. Of course, just as Tori is unpacking her belongings in her new (new to her, yet old to everyone else) dilapidated mansion, Garnet up and leaves to head to Costa Rica for a six month stint with the foreign service. Having nowhere else to go, Tori stays in Lickin Creek, working as the temporary editor of the town's newspaper, The Chronicle.As Christmas comes to town, Tori is busy working on the Chronicle, while everyone else in town is busy doing something holiday related. The borough council are choosing the color of Christmas lights, and some "older" women were busy trying to perform a "new" rendition of The Nutcracker. When suddenly, a 5-year-old boy goes missing, a 30-year-old murder resurfaces, and two people turn up dead. Now, with her boyfriend, and Sheriff of Lickin Creek, gone, Tori finds that it's up to her to crack the case, before she ends up as the next target.This was the first Tori Miracle book that I've ever read, and I am amazed. Tori is a fun, spirited character, who never gives up, no matter what. Malmont's wide array of strange and eccentric characters keep the reader on the edge of their seat from the first, to the last page, and keep them begging for more. A must-have book this holiday season.Erika Sorocco

Poor Tori - She's In It Again!

Poor Tori. She's moved to Licken Creek, Pennsylvania from New York to be with her boyfriend, the town sheriff. But he's gone off to Costa Rica and she has no where to go but to stay. It is now Christmas, and she's still an outsider but becomes the temporary editor the town's newspaper. She still gets trouble though and is always finding a murder or two to solve with the help of her friend, psychic Praxythea Evangelista. Now she is babysitting an eery old Victorian mansion while solving the mystery of the death of child whose long-lost remains had just been unearthed nearby. Valerie Malmont succeeds in writing a charming cozy mystery with an out-of-this world eccentric character mixing up things along the way. Malmont's mixes in a great deal of the Pennsylvania countryside along with quite a few delicious recipes in her mysteries, and they are delight to read.

Cute!

Death, Snow, and Mistletoe is great for what it is - a breezy little mystery full of good humor and wacky characters. Tori Miracle is someone with qualities you can relate to. She is a relocated soul in a Pennsylvania town very different from her previous New York dwelling, still trying to fit in but sometimes wondering if maybe she's landed on another planet!The mystery storyline is very good. I did not know who the killer was until it was revealed, and it made sense.If you want to read something fun I recommend this book.

Malmont pens another winner

It's nearly Christmas in Licken Creek, Pennsylvania. A substitute editor for the weekly rag, Tori Miracle is a transplanted New Yorker who's in love with the town sheriff. Now he's off in Costa Rica and Tori's stuck in Licken Creek trying hard to shed her "outsider" status and be accepted by the small town's community. The upcoming holidays find her estranged from her best friend, second-guessing her boyfriend's commitment, and hot on the trail of a murderer.Valerie Malmont's fourth in the Tori Miracle mystery series, Death, Snow and Mistletoe is true to form in its cast of eccentric characters and refreshing view of small town life. If Licken Creek and some of its landmarks and traditions seem familiar to local fans, its because Malmont, a Chambersburg resident, draws heavily on her life in and around Chambersburg. The downtown district with its fountain and one-way streets, the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains, the local colloquialisms mixed with Malmont's fertile imagination set a credible scene, rich with detail. But Tori isn't like anyone you've met in Chambersburg. Nobody could land herself in so much trouble in such a short amount of time. Under Malmont's skillful direction, however, Tori becomes a more complex character with each new novel. We find out more about her life growing up as the daughter of a foreign ambassador, her alcoholic mother, now in a home, and the tragic death of her younger brother Billy.Amazingly, Malmont threads a great deal of humor in a book whose underground currents include alcoholism, domestic abuse, poverty, bigotry, Wiccan religion, and of course, murder. Tori's wry observations and dealings with her slightly daffy compatriots keep us turning the page as much as the desire to discover the murderer.One of those keeping company with Tori is the world-famous psychic Praxythea Evangelista. Praxythea is a favorite of Malmont's who has appeared in previous Miracle books to confound and exasperate Tori. Here she's busy playing Suzy Homemaker to Tori's avenging angel, mixing up fruitcake and cookies with aplomb and a sense of fashion. (Two of Praxythea's holiday recipes accompany the novel.)To add to Tori's troubles, she's house sitting an old Victorian mansion whose porch roof threatens to cave in any minute. Her neighbor, a dentist sporting bad dentures and a slimy skirtchasing act, puts the moves on her. Plus, she's always sticking her foot in her mouth.But things get worse for the intrepid Tori before they get better. A child's long-lost remains are unearthed, and two of Licken Creeks' rather notorious citizens die gruesome deaths within days of each other. The victims, overbearing Oretta Clopper, the town's truly awful playwright, and Bernice Roadcap, the real estate mogul with a drinking problem, had secrets that Tori is determined to ferret out.Tori braves icy waters, the storm of the century, mountain trailer dwellers, and a bad seed to get to the bottom of the motives for murder. Along the way,

Delightful small town mystery

Tori Miracle traded in her Hell's Kitchen apartment in Manhattan and her job as a reporter to live in a dilapidated mansion in Lickin Creek, Pennsylvania. She chose the radical move to see if her relationship with Sheriff Garnet Gochenauer would lead to something permanent. As Tori arrives in town, Garnet decides he no longer wants the law enforcement job and takes leave of absence to go to Costa Rica to instruct local the police force. Because she has no place to go, Tori remains in the small town and accepts the temporary position of editor of the weekly newspaper The Chronicle.Somehow Tori seems to always land in the middle of messes, for instance finding a missing child while realizing the lad's older brother wanted to kill him for the fun of it. The leader of the town's coven is killed along with another woman both wearing "Sugar Plum" outfits normally seen in "The Nutcracker Suite." Tori investigates the twin killings, setting herself up for the murderer's next victim.Valerie S. Malmont is becoming famous for her small town cozies with recurring characters playing important roles in the story lines. DEATH, SNOW AND MISTLETOE takes place during the holiday season so readers not only obtain an entertaining mystery but an opportunity to see a small town Christmas through the eyes of big city Tori.Harriet Klausner